Cadillac Fall Festival
Historic Race Cars
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The 2022 Cadillac Fall Festival & Concours D’Elegance provided a display of historic Cadillac race cars as part of its emphasis on Cadillac Performance this year.
1950 Cadillac Le Monstre
“Le Monstre” was the French name for a 1950 Cadillac entered by Briggs Cunningham, noted American Sportsman, in the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1950. The car is provided courtesy of the Miles Collier Collections @ Revs Institute https://revsinstitute.org/.The Le Monstre was based on a 1950 Series 61 and fitted with a special body designed by a Grumman engineer and wind tunnel tested to reduce weight and improve its aerodynamic characteristics. The car was mostly stock except for a five-carburetor induction system and other fine tuning by Frick-Tappet Motors. With a top speed of 130 mph, it was 13 mph faster than its teammate. Briggs Cunningham and Phil Walters drove the LeMonstre to an 11th place finish. Its result compromised by an off-course excursion that lost substantial time.
Photo Credit: Peter Harboldt for Revs Institute
1950 Cadillac Coupe Series 61
To buttress his chances in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans, Briggs Cunningham also entered a mostly stock 1950 Cadillac Series 61 that the French named “Petit Pataud”. The car is provided courtesy of the Miles Collier Collections @ Revs Institute https://revsinstitute.org/. Frick-Tappet Motors modified the car by adding a twin carburetion system designed by Frank Burrell, air scoops for the drum brakes and an extra gas tank in the trunk. Miles and Sam Collier piloted the car to a 10th place finish bettering its teammate by 5 miles and averaging 81.5 mph for the 24 hours (only 8 mph less than the winner).
1954 Cadillac Series 62
Cadillac constructed this replica of a Cadillac Series 62 coupe in 2006 to commemorate the success of a privately-entered car in the 1,864-mile-long Carrera Panamericana Road Race in Mexico that the Mexican Government created in 1950 to mark the completion of the Pan-American Highway. Amateur racers Keith Andrews and Blu Plemons convinced Colorado Springs car dealer, Barry Motor Sales, to loan them a Cadillac Series 62 coupe that they prepared and entered the 1954 race to challenge factory-backed teams from the likes of
Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz. The Andrews-Plemons Cadillac completed the treacherous 1,864-mile race in less than 21 hours, winning the two final stages outright and averaging over 118 mph for the final 404 miles.
Photo Credit: Peter Harboldt for Revs Institute
2000 Cadillac STSi LeMans Pace Car
2000 marked the beginning of a serious Cadillac commitment to performance to improve marketing and technology of all Cadillacs. As part of this commitment, Cadillac supplied pace cars for the famed 24-hour race. These special edition Cadillac Seville STSis are powered by modified high-output Northstar 32-valve engines that have an extra 50 horsepower boosting them to 350 hp. The pace cars are equipped with GM's Onstar global positioning system. Race organizers could use the system to manage the pace cars in the event of an accident.
2001 Northstar LMP
This car represents the LeMans Prototypes built for Cadillac to use between 2000 and 2002 in the American Le Mans Series as well to return to famous 24 Hours of LeMans in France. The bespoke carbon fiber monocoque chassis design drew on Cadillac's Art & Science design theme with its functional egg-crate grill on the nose and large side scoops to feed the turbochargers. Powering the cars was a highly modified 650 hp version Cadillac’s 4.0L Northstar engine equipped with twin-turbochargers and modified for longevity.
The cars mounted Cadillac’s Night Vision system that debuted on the 2000 DeVille. A total of 7 chassis were built, two for use by Team Cadillac, three by the DAMS private team, one for crash testing and one spare. The LMP’s were modified over the three years. This car was created from the one used for crash testing.
2004 CTS-VR Sedan
In 2004, Cadillac entered the ultra-competitive SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge GT Championship with their CTS-V Sedan. It was powered by modified 5.7 Liter all-aluminum V-8 engine equipped with dry-sump lubrication. Cadillac noted says that, by weight, the race version is 73 percent stock-derived, sharing common technology in the form of an all-aluminum V-8, front and rear suspension, steering system, differential, and halfshafts. After a slow start in 2004, Team Cadillac won the Manufacturer’s Championship and the Driver’s Championship (Andy Pilgrim) in 2005. Cadillac created the replica to be shown.
